Light In The Attic: can they do no wrong?

It's still on order at my record store. Have been streaming it for months now but I don't think I've ever reached the end of the album as I mostly put it on when I go to bed lol

Yes, this and Kankyo Ongaku, which I only just got into this year, have been *immensely* helpful over the past few months

Very hard agree. Green operates in its own space & overall the Japanese ambient scene has been a godsend these last few months.

do you all prefer the SFX version or the clean version? i used to be a 100% clean advocate, but the SFX enhance the napping experience even more, sometimes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38q7p2c3eSE

I think it’s time for a critical re-evaluation of CAKE. Deeply weird songwriting, an absolute shredder playing guitar, and a surprising pop sensibility. They also take an intermission when they play a show and I like that

— Light In The Attic (@lightintheattic) September 11, 2020

CAKE were my favorite band in high school but the last time I listened to Fashion Nugget my impression was "the critics might've been right about these guys"

Haven't played in in forever, but looking at the tracklist now I feel like just removing "I Will Survive" and "The Distance" would instantly make it a much better record. I think I'd still like most of the debut, but WXRT absolutely killed this band for me by (still, I'd imagine) playing "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" every hour.

This is weird to say but the Weird Al parody almost ruined them for me, it was so on the nose that I couldn't hear them the same way

i'm listening to green and trying not to doom scroll atm. wait why the hell are you guys talking about cake

LITA tweeted about reevaluating the legacy of Cake

well i guess the answer to this thread title is that they can do wrong

Recently heard Cake set as finale to a quarantine-unearthed broadcast concert, feat. various artists---long-running public radio series Mountain Stage, prob in online archives----and deadpan singer just kept droning, band just kept unfolding, grew horns etc, all very effective. Good songlist too. I'd go see 'em.

Don't know the records.

they are hit and miss live. they benefit a lot from being one of those bands where the fans know the records very well so their shows have sort of a party atmosphere. but the band itself came off kinda unrehearsed one of the times I saw them, plus John McCrea was a dick to the audience, I very much got a "we're only doing this because you buy tickets" vibe to it. the other time they were pretty fun and seemed to enjoy themselves.

The set I heard was maybe 20 minutes, at most, which prob helped, and he did *seem* begrudging---but dour, pithy comments effectively introduced the songs: good contrast with the colorful, energetic band.

Best use of said dickishness, for a few minutes anyway.

probably discussed on another thread, but I am getting a lot of targeted ads for this

https://lightintheattic.net/releases/7377-somewhere-between-mutant-pop-electronic-minimalism-shadow-sounds-of-japan-1980-1988

I actually don't know any of this stuff...dip in the pool is the only artist I've heard more than a couple songs by...anyone wanna give a thumbs up or thumbs down

yeah, that got discussed briefly here: Please recommend me some Japanese new wave...

thanks for the reminder though!

can't hate on any comp featuring Wha Ha Ha / Ogawa / RNA Organism. it's just shocking as you wouldn't expect the result to sound like a study music playlist. you wonder if it's trying to open doors to the weirder chaos or airbrush out all the variety so that all we remember is the maximally streamable lounge

weird getting old, right?

recommend the recent vanity records reissues as counterpoint

yes

I like what this label does, but I sure wish they would offer the same compilation tracklistings across all formats.
Somewhere Between is 14 tracks on LP and cassette, 13 on CD, and only 8 for download.
Kankyo Ongaku is 25 tracks on LP, 23 on CD, and only 10 for download.

Is this a rights thing for different formats or are they just trying to steer people to the most expensive version?

I would totally understand if they don't want to put the complete comps on streaming. But let people pay to download the whole comp!

Perhaps I should be writing to them instead of complaining here. Perhaps I will.

Let us know if you do. I bought the Somewhere Between comp on CD and wasn't aware that it was, like Kanyo Ongaku (which I also bought on CD), shorter than the LP version. But yeah I'm guessing it's a rights issue, especially since CDs still sell in Japan from what I understand, and I'm assuming the license holders for a lot of that music are in Japan

PP otm. The digital version of Pacific Breeze 2 is like 4 songs.

How's Somewhere Between?

There are at least two absolute bangers in the form of "Arrows and Eyes" and "Tira-Rin" but I have yet to give the whole comp the attention it deserves. Will post here when I've had a chance to dig a little deeper. But I always find these LITA comps a safe bet, as there are usually at least a handful of great tracks on all of them. But I'm also a sucker for comps in general.

Is this a rights thing for different formats or are they just trying to steer people to the most expensive version?

They're not alone in this; the BBE label's J Jazz compilation series has varied track listings too. Vol. 1 has two more tracks on vinyl than on CD, Vol. 2 had 14 tracks - same on vinyl as on CD - but if you bought the digital version you only got five tracks, and the forthcoming Vol. 3 has three more tracks on the CD vs. the vinyl version. It seems to be a rights issue. (Similarly, the Real Gone label in the US only licenses their reissues for LP and/or CD, but never gets the digital rights, so stuff they put out like Ornette Coleman's long OOP Crisis and Ornette At 12 albums, if you didn't buy the CD, you were out of luck.)

the recent Joey Negro compilations have had this too - the digital, CD and vinyl tracklists all being different

i'd love to learn more about their research & discovery methods, especially for the compilations and *especially* the compilations like 'native north america' and 'i am the center' that contain a lot of incredibly obscure finds and strike me as superbly well-researched

can anyone recommend any resources?

For I am the Centre, the record collector (and coiner of the term PINA) Anthony Pearson was involved via Douglas McGowan.

its mentioned in the Numero records Periodical:New Age Issue, which is pretty much essential for anyone who liked IATC.

I guess, its getting a genre head to do some research and look into what rights can be obtained.

its tracking down the artists that needs old fashioned research and networking.

Douglas says that he first asked JD Emmanuel for the compilation, and I guess it might be a gathering of momentum as artists agree and that helps other agree to be on it.

Quite a few have had reissues since that compilation (Joanna Brouk, Michael Stearns, David Sylvian etc.) So its getting an impetus for them to find the original tapes, and once they are found its easier for subsequent labels to reissue retrospectives/album reissues.

that comp might be the best packaged and pressed vinyl I have, its a thing of wonder.

finally picked up a copy of Somewhere Between, made it nearly all the way through Side A before realizing it was a 45 RPM

sounds damn good at 33 though

Haha, I did the exact same thing a few weeks back.

I know Douglas a little bit and that description of his working methods seems accurate.

xp For info about Native North America, I'd recommend checking out this podcast interview with compiler Kevin Howes and featured artist Duke Redbird: http://vishkhanna.com/2014/12/04/ep-152-kevin-sipreano-howes-duke-redbird/

just now catching up to the kankyo ongaku — whoa, this rules!

^^^ yeah, I dig it all, in particular the Joe Hisaishi track "Islander" is incredible. I wish it was twice as long. Quite an obscure find too - it's actually by the one-off project Wonder City Orchestra, before any of Hisaishi's well-known work. These folks really know their stuff. It's inspired me to get some Hiroshi Yoshimura & Inoyama Land LPs, but I think this compilation is way beyond any individual release.

still been regularly playing Pacific Breeze & Somewhere Between as well. I wonder if the popularity of Pacific Breeze/City Pop in general is somehow linked to vaporwave? So much of it sounds like sample fodder. I'm surprised Somewhere Between hasn't been picked up on like the other two. Maybe it just goes a little too far in the weeds and doesn't have the same appeal. But I've been researching some of the acts on it quite a bit. There's so much out there to discover. My favorite might actually be the last track, as short and insubstantial as it is.

I wonder if the popularity of Pacific Breeze/City Pop in general is somehow linked to vaporwave?

I had assumed so!

kept forgetting there was a second Pacific Breeze. you know, I think this was more along the lines of what I was expecting the first time. obviously I love all the YMO family stuff but come on it is not "City Pop". this one has a much more chill, coherent feeling to it. also I counted three tracks already that were sampled in various vaporwave things I've heard

Edd Hurt and I discuss LITA's 2021 Country Funk 3 quite a bit over on Country Funk?, with links.
Also:
every time I listen to this stuff a cigarette magically appears in my mouth

― frogbs, Thursday, March 10, 2022 9:47 PM (three weeks ago)

There's some 70's rootsy stuff in that second Pacific Breeze volume that isn't really City Pop either, but frankly I welcome it - I admit full comps of that genre end up sounding too samey for me.

Second Pacific Breeze also gets points for not having a track liner note in the form of a spiral, rendering it unreadable.

Agreed all around: they're both fairly essential, but PB2 is the one I got back to more often.

Second Pacific Breeze also gets points for not having a track liner note in the form of a spiral, rendering it unreadable.

Comforting to know I'm not alone in my annoyance at this lol.

They should pick another MPB guy to champion, those Marcos Valle and Erasmo Carlos reissues never get old.

ha I saw this thread title and thought "letting those Valle reissues go out of print was wrong" ;_;

They also picked the wrong version of "O Beato" for a bonus track on "Vento Sul"

we get Number Three

https://lightintheattic.net/releases/9228-pacific-breeze-volume-3-japanese-city-pop-aor-boogie-1975-1987

sweet. And it's available as a towel.

Someone's made a YouTube playlist. Love that last song by Chiemi Manabe. Heard it a mix one of the compilers did a while back.

its out now and it rules. on first listen I was able to pick out a ton of highlights. kinda blends the approach of the first two I think - lots of forward thinking stuff here but not in the "is this even City Pop" way you get on the first one. also the record sounds insanely good. gotta say LitA restores my faith in great sounding and clean vinyl. it is possible after all.

It's easily my favourite of the three volumes so far. Just a brilliant selection of songs and none that I want to skip in the slightest.

In an industry of absolute shit and constant disappointment I increasingly believe that it's important to acknowledge the few people and labels doing commendable work.

About a week ago, LITA had some big warehouse cleaning sale, and I impulse bought a few things, including the big Lee Hazlewood CD box. It was such a steal at $30, I actually thought it might have been a pricing glitch, and almost expected the order to get canceled. I didn't even know whether it was the deluxe version or the regular version (the website wasn't very clear about this), but given the very, very low price for this incredible multi-disc box with a flexi disc and book, I would have been happy either way.

Well, I was pleasantly surprised that it turned out to be the deluxe box. At that price, which is over $70 less than the lowest priced copy on Discogs at the moment, I probably would have been OK if they'd just sent the damn thing in a pizza box. Instead, they sent it separate from the other records I ordered, and packaged it like it was a set of crystal champagne flutes. They included those little cardboard corner thingies to avoid dents, secured it in bubble wrap, and shipped it in a big, heavy box with cardboard fillers. The package probably could have survived a toss over an overpass.

I'm not even a big stickler about cosmetic damage and corner bends and stuff, but I really appreciated the care they put into shipping something that probably doesn't even cover their manufacturing costs, especially when I regularly receive exorbitantly priced LPs from overseas that are sent in what is little more than a manilla envelope. Anyway, just wanted to give LITA some props.

Don't know if they are still running the sale, but if they are, it's worth a look!